Mary, Queen of France: From Royal Court to Rural Suffolk

Published30th March 2018

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Mary spent the
majority of her childhood at Eltham (1), then in Kent, now in Greater London,
as her mother, Elizabeth of York, had done.
It was at Eltham that Mary was seen by Erasmus, when Thomas More brought
him to visit the younger children of Henry VII. Mary was only three, but he
noted her beautiful golden hair, as she played alongside Prince Henry. The
meeting probably took place in the Great Hall at Eltham, built by Mary’s
grandfather, Edward IV, and which can still be visited, although the rest of
the original palace has largely disappeared. It is still worth visiting,
however, for the superb 1930s home created there by the Astor family, and the
delightful gardens.

Another of the
frequently visited royal homes of Mary’s childhood, was Richmond (2), rebuilt
by Henry VII after the devastating fire which destroyed the old palace of
Sheen. It was at Richmond that Mary witnessed the marriage of her sister,
Margaret, to James IV of Scotland, and the jousts that followed.

After the death of her
mother, in February 1503, seven-year-old Mary spent some time in the household
of her grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby. Lady
Margaret’s London home was at Coldharbour (3), near modern-day Upper Thames
street. The first house at Coldharbour was probably built during the reign of
Edward II. It became part of the inheritance of the Holland dukes of Exeter. By
the time of Henry IV, it was in the possession of the crown, and was given by
him to his son, later Henry V. Later, it
was granted by Richard III to the College of Arms, before being given to Lady
Margaret in 1485. Repairs were ordered by the king, and Thomas Littley, his
clerk of works, supervised the improvements. Among them was a display of Margaret’s
coat-of-arms, in a window visible from the river.

As Mary grew up, she
became a more prominent part of court ceremonial. She was present at Windsor
Castle (4) when Duke Philip of Burgundy, and his wife, Juana of Castile, were in
England during 1506. Her skill on the lute and other instruments was noted, as
were her delightful manners and charm, even though she was only ten.

Part of the reason for
Henry wishing Philip to see Mary, was his plan for her to marry Philip and
Juana’s son, Charles, Archduke of Austria and Prince of Castile. The more time
Philip could spend with her, the more he was likely to find her an appealing
prospect as a daughter-in-law – especially with the money that Henry VII could
supply to Philip’s perennially broke father, the Emperor Maximilian. Mary and
her older brother, Prince Henry, accompanied Philip on a visit to Lady Margaret
– not at Coldharbour at that time, but at Croydon (5).

Croydon palace was one
of the homes of the Archbishop of Canterbury, used to break his journey en-route
from Canterbury to his London home at Lambeth. The site was first mentioned in
AD871, as land near the River Wandle, purchased by the See of Canterbury. It
would remain in the church’s possession for over 900 years. The buildings that Mary would have known
dated largely from the 14th century: the Great Hall was probably
built in the 1390s by Archbishop Courtney, and renovated some fifty years later
by Archbishop Stafford.

Part of the Great Hall
and the porch are still extant. The east end collapsed in the eighteenth
century, but the west end pulpit remains, with the arms of Henry VI. There is another large room, perhaps a solar,
or possibly the audience chamber of Archbishop Arundel, with a later, Tudor
period, oriel window. The chapel also
remains, probably constructed by Archbishop Bourchier (who married Mary’s
parents). Archbishop Morton’s improvements are faced with the fashionable red
brick of the early 1500s. The remains of
the dilapidated palace were sold by the church in 1780 and became a calico
factory, then later a school, which continues to flourish. Public access is available through booked
tours – more information can be found here.

Despite the sudden
death of Philip of Burgundy, the betrothal between Mary and Charles went ahead,
and a formal treaty sealed the arrangement in 1507. To celebrate, Prince Henry
hosted jousts at his house at Kennington (6), over which Mary presided as the
leading lady. Kennington was located on the south bank of the Thames, in the
district of St Mary, Lambeth. The manor was granted by Edward III to his eldest
son, Edward the Black Prince. Prince Edward built there extensively from the
1340s onward, until his untimely death in 1376, before his father. He constructed a Great Hall, a Prince’s
Chamber, kitchens, and the other usual buildings connected to a royal house.

The Black Prince’s
widow, Joan of Kent, generally resided there and it was at Kennington that
their son, Richard of Bordeaux, was proclaimed king on the death of Edward III.
Henry VII granted it to Mary’s brother, Prince Henry, but after he acceded to
the throne it was little used. Henry demolished most of it in 1531, to provide
materials for his new, grand, palace at Whitehall. Today, no trace of the house
remains, but it is commemorated in the name of the London district, and its
underground station.

Mary’s betrothal to
Charles continued for some years. A proxy marriage was celebrated, and she was
referred to at home and abroad as Princess of Castile. In 1514, however, when
the wedding should have taken place, Charles’ grandfathers, the Emperor
Maximilian and Ferdinand of Aragon, shilly-shallied to such an extent, and
betrayed Mary’s brother, now King Henry VIII, so comprehensively, that the
match was broken off. At Wanstead (7) in Essex, Mary publicly repudiated the
proxy wedding vows she had taken, and declared herself free to marry elsewhere.

Wanstead was a hunting
lodge in Epping Forest, east and north of London, which was much favoured by
Henry VII who acquired in 1499, and later by Henry VIII. There are numerous
records of court hunting parties there during both reigns. In 1511, the office of Keeper of the Park at
Wanstead was granted to Henry VIII’s friend, Charles Brandon, later Mary’s
husband.

Sir Richard Rich was a
subsequent Keeper of the Park, and he was granted the whole manor by Edward VI.
It was then sold to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who spent much of his
time there, along with his second wife, Lettice Knollys. Elizabeth I used
Leicester’s debts to the crown as an opportunity to take Wanstead back into
royal hands, but granted it to Lettice’s son, Robert Devereux, Earl of
Essex. Essex died on the block in 1601,
and Wantstead reverted to the crown. Subsequently, it was owned in turn by George
Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and favourite of James VI & I; Sir Henry
Mildmay, and James, Duke of York, later James II. The house was pulled down in the early
eighteenth century, and replaced with Wanstead Hall, which was itself
demolished in 1825. The site is now contained within Wanstead Park, and an
eighteenth-century folly remains.

With Mary now free
from her betrothal to Charles, a new marriage was swiftly arranged to
discomfort Maximilian and Ferdinand. Henry promised his sister to the fifty-two
year old, sickly, widowed Louis XII of France. The marriage was arranged before
the end of August, and in late September, Mary, now Queen of France, except for
the final ceremony, travelled with her brother and the English court to Dover
Castle to embark for France.

Dover Castle (8) was
one of the most formidable fortresses in all England. Originally a Roman fortification,
then an early Christian minster, the site was fortified by William the
Conqueror. A hundred years later, Henry II constructed the mighty stronghold
that can still be seen today, cared for by English Heritage. For Henry VIII,
Dover was key to his strategic defences along the English coast when, after
Mary’s death, the breach with Rome made England more vulnerable to attack. The
castle continued to have military significance – it was at Dover that the
Dunkirk evacuation was planned during World War II. The last gun batteries were
removed in the 1950s.

Mary was trapped at
Dover by bad weather, eventually sailing just after dawn on 2nd October. At the last minute, as she bade her brother goodbye, she forced him to
confirm his promise that, should Louis XII die, she would be permitted to
choose her own second husband. It seems to have been an open secret that Mary
was attached to Henry’s friend, Charles Brandon, now Duke of Suffolk, but
whether Henry thought she seriously intended to marry him, if she could, is
debatable.

Mary spent less than
three months as Queen of France, fêted everywhere she went, and showered with
jewels by Louis. She performed her duty
to the admiration of everyone who saw her, but, as soon as she was widowed, she
determined to have her own way on remarriage. Henry sent Suffolk to fetch her,
having exacted a promise that the duke would not propose to Mary. She took
matters into her own hands, persuading Suffolk to defy the king and marry her
immediately. Henry was furious, or at
least affected to be, and only forgave them when Mary promised him the greater
part of her French dower. The couple returned to England in April 1515, and a
formal wedding was staged at Greenwich (9) in May.

Greenwich was one of
Henry VIII and his first wife, Katharine of Aragon’s, favourite palaces. Henry
was born there, the couple were married there, and it was the birthplace of
their daughter, another Mary. Throughout the ten years following Mary’s
marriage, the court was often there, and she frequently with it, taking part in
the many ceremonies staged there. The
Tudor palace was largely destroyed in the seventeenth century to make way for
the Queen’s House, and later the Old Royal Naval College, designed by Sir
Christopher Wren. Read more on archaeological finds at Greenwich here and here

As well as visiting
the court, Mary and Suffolk had country homes. They lived mainly in Suffolk at
Westhorpe Hall (12), around 16 miles from Bury St Edmunds. Here, Mary lived in
some state as the queen-dowager of France. There are traces of Westhorpe in the
Residential Home that now stands on the site, but they are not obvious to the
casual observer. More evocative is the church, where Mary would have worshipped
on important feast days. It has been suggested that Mary’s viscera were buried
at the church, after the embalming of her body.

One of Mary’s
favourite places to visit was Butley Abbey or Priory (10), not far from the Suffolk
coast. The priory was an Augustinian house, founded in 1171, although the
buildings Mary would have known date from two centuries later. It was a huge
foundation, the buildings and gardens covering over twenty acres. Mary visited regularly – even staying for two
months in 1527. It was recorded that one day, the weather was so hot, that she
ordered tables to be laid outside. In typical English fashion, the weather
changed and Mary and her fellow picnickers had to race for shelter in the
church.

Mary did not live to
see the dissolution of the religious houses, which began the year after her
death. Butley surrendered in 1538. It was granted first to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and then sold on. Passing through various hands, it fell into
dereliction, until some of the gatehouse (where Mary would have stayed) was
restored in the mid-eighteenth century. It is currently a wedding venue and can
also be rented for short term holidays.

Like all courtiers who
could afford it, Mary and Suffolk also had a town house. As was usual, the name
of the house changed as the property changed hands, and when Mary inhabited it,
it was known as Suffolk Place (11). It occupied a large site near what is now
Borough High Street, on the south side of the Thames. It is commemorated in the
modern, high-class residential development named Brandon House. It is not to be confused with the later
Suffolk House that stood at the end of the Strand, later called Northumberland
House.

From the information
that can be gleaned from Wyngaerde’s sketch, dating from about thirty years
after Mary’s death, Suffolk Place was built in the typical Tudor style of redbrick,
with turrets, rather like the clock-tower at Hampton Court.

Whilst it is generally thought that Mary and
Suffolk built the property, his family had had a reasonably large house in the
location since at least 1465, when Sir John Howard, later 1st Duke
of Norfolk, visited Sir William Brandon there. It passed on the death of Sir
William’s widow, Elizabeth née Wingfield in 1497, to their son, Sir Thomas
Brandon. Having no children of his own, he left a life interest in it to Jane,
Lady Guildford, with his nephew, Charles Brandon, (Mary’s husband) to inherit
on Lady Guildford’s death. This was the
same Lady Guildford who accompanied Mary to France, although why Sir Thomas
left her his house is a mystery – there is no obvious family relationship.

Suffolk made an
arrangement with Lady Guildford to take possession on Sir Thomas’ death, paying
her £47 6s 8d per annum in exchange. He and Mary entertained Emperor Charles V
at there in 1522, before the royal party went hunting in nearby Southwark
Park. The property was later exchanged
with some of Henry VIII’s lands at Cannon Row, on the north side of the river. For a period in the 1540s, there was a royal
mint in part of the property, and the gardens were well maintained, with 3,000
red and 1,000 damask roses planted.

In August 1555, Mary’s
niece, now Queen Mary I, who had often visited her aunt and cousins at Suffolk
Place in the 1520s, stayed overnight with her husband, King Philip, after
seeing the Lord Chancellor, Bishop Gardiner nearby. Shortly after, Queen Mary
gave the property to the see of York, in compensation for its loss of York
Place, redeveloped as Whitehall Palace. The house was demolished in the early 1560s,
not long after Wyngaerde’s sketch was made.

Mary died before the
Reformation came to England, and there is no evidence that she had anything
other than a completely conventional outlook on religion. Her fondness for
staying in religious houses was not unique, and the pilgrimage she made to
Walsingham (13) in the company of Queen Katharine of Aragon was certainly not
unusual. Walsingham was one of the holiest shrines in England before the
dissolution of the monasteries.

Walsingham on the
north Norfolk coast was a dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who was believed to
have appeared to a local woman in the eleventh century, and requested that a
replica of her home be made in England. This was duly done, and for four
hundred years, it was a place of pilgrimage, particularly patronised by women who
wished for a successful pregnancy, or to give thanks for a birth. Elizabeth of
York made the pilgrimage, Katharine of Aragon visited more than once, and Anne
Boleyn planned to make a visit, although there is no record of her doing so. Henry
VIII himself made a pilgrimage of gratitude following the birth of his
ultimately short-lived son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall in 1511.

The shrine was
destroyed in 1538, but recreated in 1938, with first an Anglican and then a
Roman Catholic place of worship built. It is important for ecumenical
gatherings between the churches.

Another of Mary’s
homes, although it remained in the ownership of Henry VIII and was probably not
visited so frequently as Westhorpe, was Castle Rising (14), near King’s Lynn,
Norfolk. Although not easy to reach,
Castle Rising is well worth the trouble of a visit. It is a remarkably
well-preserved Norman keep, in the care of English Heritage, first constructed
in the late 1130s, by William d’Albini (or d’Aubigny), a Norman knight who
married Adeliza of Louvain, widow of Henry I, and stepmother of the Empress
Maud.

William d’Aubigny was
granted the earldom of Arundel, and his descendants remained at Castle Rising
until it was sold to Isabella of France, wife of Edward II. Following her
‘retirement’ after her son overthrew her and her lover, Roger Mortimer,
Isabella lived at Rising until her death, when the property came to the crown. It was sold by Henry VIII to Thomas Howard,
Duke of Norfolk, whose distant descendant (via daughters, rather than sons),
Lord Howard of Rising, manages it for English Heritage.

Mary died at her home
of Westhorpe. She was buried in the great Benedictine Abbey, at Bury St
Edmunds. As the name suggests, this was a shrine to the Anglo-Saxon king and
martyr, St Edmund, whose cult was well-established in the Middle Ages. As was
frequently the case, there were many disputes about the relative rights and
duties of the abbey and the town. This culminated in serious rioting in the
1320s, and a resolution of the matter had to be made by the Bishop of Ely on
behalf of the king. Fifty years later,
Richard II and his queen, Anne of Bohemia stayed in the abbey for ten days,
costing the monks 800 marks (c £550).

Sixty years later
again, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester died during a Parliament intended to
resolve the tensions at Henry VI’s court. Many believed he had been poisoned,
and the ill-feeling this suspicion engendered contributed to the Wars of the
Roses.

The abbey surrendered
to the king in November 1539, and the abbot and his forty-three monks were
granted pensions. Mary’s remains were removed and carried to the adjacent
church of St Mary’s (15), where they remain to the west of the high altar,
under a plain slab.

Tomb of Mary, Queen of France at the Church of St Mary, in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk